Mount Eliza becomes Anzac Cove for Gallipoli TV mini series

Tim Barlass

It's a strip of seafront once made famous when Hollywood came to town in 1959 to shoot On the Beach starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire.

Now Mount Eliza beach on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, will star again, this time in the eight-hour TV mini-series Gallipoli, screening next month. Not that the location will be immediately recognisable.

After digital effects: Tolly (Kodi Smit-McPhee) looks out over the flotilla of Navy ships at dawn on the first day of the Anzac landing. Photo: Supplied

The headland shares a passing resemblance to the rugged Turkish peninsula where the amphibious landings were made 100 years ago, but with a little post-production digital mastery, it is transformed into a convincing representation of Anzac Cove.

The Nine Network drama tells the story of 17-year-old Thomas "Tolly" Johnston, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee, who lies about his age to enlist with his brother Bevan, played by Harry Greenwood.

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For that reason the expertiseof Dayton McCarthy, a former major in the infantry who has a PhD in military history, was called upon. "We live in perpetual fear of the trainspotters, those experts on a very narrow field," McCarthy says.

On the beach: Filming the mini series Gallipoli in Victoria. Photo: Kelly Gardner

"This location is very close, but when you have got all these houses and city lights twinkling in the distance at night nearly every shot in all eight hours of Gallipoli has been augmented to some extent," Zero says.

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, played by James Callis, observes the Suvla battle from the deck of a ship in the mini series Gallipoli. Photo: Ben King

Getting the multitude of uniforms correct is also something of a minefield. There's a wardrobe staff of 10, led by costume designer Cappi Ireland, whose other work includes I, Frankenstein, Oranges and Sunshine and The Slap. The costumes for the 150-strong cast and some 700 extras were made in China and have to be aged with mud, sweat and sand as the story progresses.

One of Ireland's biggest fears has been sending someone to set with the wrong insignia or rank, she says. So many of the characters are based on real people.

"We have been researching black and white photos to make uniforms in colour," says Ireland, adding that those of the generals were the most difficult.

"Everything fitted them beautifully because it was all tailor made for them, whereas we had to get jackets and modify them a bit."

The scene filmed the day of Fairfax Media's visit features the dashing British war correspondent, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. He is played by British actor James Callis, familiar from his roles as Dr Gaius Baltar in Battlestar Galactica and Tom in Bridget Jones's Diary.

Callis appears somehow perfect for the role of Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, who he regards as perhaps the first tabloid-style journalist. Always fastidiously dressed for a war zone, Ashmead-Bartlett knows he's the best war correspondent around (which only serves to fuel his arrogance) but his first dispatches lit a fire of of pride and patriotism in Australia, helping to build the Anzac legend.

In between scenes, British-born Callis says he has much to think about in order to assume the role. "Ashmead-Bartlett was terribly well connected with a lot of friends in high places and that does something to somebody," he says.

The clothes – boots, gaiters and a dashing white jacket – which Callis admits "seems terribly inappropriate in a war zone" – also help him get into character.

"The clothes are to Ashmead-Bartlett in this production as shoes are to Imelda Marcos," Callis says.

Like many, Callis didn't learn about the story of Gallipoli at school. "I was just on the phone to a school friend who I haven't seen in 20 years who now lives in Canberra and we were discussing Gallipoli and the fact that we never heard about it at school. It was never mentioned – and we did the whole of the First World War.

But different elements of the production "all working in synchronicity" had vividly brought the event to life, Callis says.

"To be here and say that you are part of it is such a privilege," he says.